Holiday

Been busy with holiday goings on and lots of other stuff. I plan on putting together a best of 2007 sort of thing sometime but for now here's some good Christmas music.

Murder City Devils - 364 Days
Rocket From The Crypt - Cancel Christmas
Supersuckers - Christmastime
Junkyard Dogs - Brand New Bike
Bruce Cockburn - Joy To The World

Okkervil River Daytrotter Sessions

Daytrotter Sessions always has some great performances to check out (Small Sins and Emma Pollack were there recently). Okkervil River were there a little while ago and did some covers of some really great songs but I don't feel they really did them justice. Still very much worth a listen but they don't come cloise to the beauty of John Phillip's original of "April Anne" and for "No Easy Way Down" I personally don't think anyone can touch Mark Eitzel's version. Here's the session, and as a bonus there's a cover that I think they nailed thrown in as well. (it's just like Simon Cowell always says, song choice is everything)

April Anne (John Phillips cover)
No Easy Way Down (Carole King cover)
Do What You Gotta Do (Jimmy Webb cover)
You Can't Hold The Hand Of A Rock And Roll Man
O Dana (Big Star Cover)

The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep have a new album on the way...
I discovered Son Of The Tiger earlier this year and find that it's a bit inconsistent at times but when it hits the right notes it's gold. They've got a new album Sleep Forever coming out Feb 19th and leaked a track from that... I am loving it and am waiting patiently. Can't wait till they come to my town too.
The Big Sleep - Pinkies

a swell evening

Friday night was a concert by The Swell Season (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) with Mary Margaret O'Hara. I will expand on this later, but I'll just say for now it was pretty freaking great; Glen & Marketa were great, the crowd was strange (made up mostly of fans of the movie Once, who cheered as soon as they head the songs they knew from the film) and Mary Margaret O'Hara was like nothing I've seen before. She has an amazing voice but almost seems scared or self concious about using it, often just sort of half singing the lines or throwing a few random notes & noises throughout. Here's a sample of why the show was great:

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova -Drown Out
Mary Margaret O'Hara - Keeping You in Mind

And the girls from this video were there front row & center.

an emotional rollercoaster of a mix!

Okay, it's that not big of an emotional rollercoaster but I couldn't think of much to say otehr than "A new mix" or something. Anyway, this mix has some great new stuff and some old goodies too. The last thing released by Lee Hazlewood kicks it off so it can only go downhill from there, or maybe not when you've got Intramural w/ Greg Dulli, a great Emma Pollock track and one of my favorite soul songs ever from the Knight Brothers. I'd say it's worth a download.

Get it HERE.

01 At The Top Of The World - Amiina (ft. Lee Hazelwood)
02 Elephant Gun - Beirut
03 I'm Never Gonna Live It Down - The Knight Brothers
04 Life Without A Brain - The Rentals
05 On The Line - Small Sins
06 In The Morning - Candie Payne
07 Middle Distance Runner - Sea Wolf
08 At The Finish Line - Jenn Grant
09 This Is A Landslide - Intramural (featuring Greg Dulli of The Twilight Singers)
10 Florida's on Fire - Superchunk
11 Zeros and Ones - Francine
12 Depressed Friends - Walter Schreifels
13 Ball of Yarn - Birdmonster
14 There Is A Light That Never Goes Out - Neil Finn
15 Bathtime Tindersticks
16 Fortune - Emma Pollock
17 Rehearsals for Retirement - Mark Eitzel

a couple of great label samplers

I just got a couple of label samplers that are both pretty great.

The first is Binky Griptite's Ghetto Funk Power Hour which is a mix of stuff from Daptone Records. It's divided up into sections but not by track, so you'll have to buy the stuff at your local shop or go here to download some of it.

I've also got a great Light in the Attic Records mix HERE. I really love this label and this disc makes an easy case for why. They've got a great mix of classics with Betty Davis, Karen Dalton & Jackie Mittoo and some new stuff like The Black Angels. I really recommend the Jamaica to Toronto compilation, not just because I'm living in Toronto now but because it's a vibrant collection of music you never really hear about. The Summer Records follow up is great too, fantastic dub from a shitty part of town near where I work. You should really go download more now.

a load of shows and some other stuff.

I saw Lars And The Real Girl this week; it's by far the funniest and most touching movie I've ever seen featuring a life-like sex doll. I highly recommend it if you want to laugh and get all emotional... it happens to the best of us.

I also had two epic nights out seeing bands on Thurs & Fri. Thursday started with the reunited Police, who I have always been a fan of but have to say I was unimpressed with. They played great and all, but there was just no fire in their belly really so the whole thing felt sort of uninspired to me. I ran up to the El Mocambo after that to catch Bionic ; they're always great and the new album is one of the best rock records I've picked up in the last couple years for sure. Caught the tail end of fellow Haligonian Rebekah Higgs' set that night too, quite nice. You can check her out here.

Friday night I caught the tail end of The Drones (kind of reminded me of a rough version of The Frames mixeed with Teenage Fanclub or something), they were alright. They were opening for Band Of Horses who were good but they never really took to that place where I get lost in the show. I knew I was watching a great band and they were playing amazing but it just didn't connect. On the other hand.... I saw My Brightest Diamond after that and it was everything that was missing from the Police & Band of Horses shows. Shara has one of the best voices I've ever had the chance to see live and just everything about the show put a smile on my face. She's quite coy and cute in between songs and would be totally pretentuous if she weren't smiling at everything she's doing. Get some HERE and enjoy these tunes...

The Police - Fall Out
The Police - Be My Girl (also makes sense with Lars & The Real Girl)
Rebekah Higgs - Parables
My Brightest Diamond - Magic Rabbit

another decent rock mix (if I do say so myself)

HERE'S a mix of some rock and/or roll that I meant to post before. I had started the post but hadn't finished it... It's all basically jsut rock n roll, some fun stuff though.

01 You Don't Break My Heart - The Testors
02 Reaction - Catheters
03 Mongoloid - Millionaire
04 Gabrielle - Ween
05 Every Single Line Means Something - Marnie Stern
06 Rana (Frogs) - Pitchfork
07 Circuits to Circuses - Centro-Matic
08 The House - Bonk
09 The Ending Is the Greater - Afterhours
10 The Whip (Ultra-Static Mix) - Rocket From The Crypt
11 Don't Mind If I Do - Dead Low Tide
12 All Is Not Lost - The Afghan Whigs
13 Stumped - Goblin Cock
14 Gps - The Black Heart Procession
15 She Comes To Me - Burning Brides
16 Cold Wars - The Rezillos
17 Suffragette City - Turbonegro
18 Hard Knox High - The Vikings
19 No Generation Gap - Wipers

my friend's friend's bands are unimpressive...

I went to see bands that were friends with friends of mine, had an alright time but the bands were nothing to write home about. One was mostly victim to bad sound and drunkness, the other was just very bland...

Anyway, there's a new mix HERE For this one I tried to balance the "wussy" stuff with some more rockin stuff too. Hopefully my friends and/or critics approve.
You can get most of this stuff at emusic.

Tracklist:
01 Anti Love Song - Betty Davis
02 Don't Change - Face To Face
03 Ode To LRC - Band of Horses
04 Biology Tricks - Centro-Matic
05 Satellite - Son Volt
06 Busy Nights At The Meatmarket - The Heathens
07 Pink Money - Hot Springs
08 Restorative Beer - The Fiery Furnaces
09 I Know Yer Insane - Dinosaur Jr.
10 Sidewalk Stepper - Galactic
11 Mas Y Mas - Los Lobos
12 Captain Pasty - Black Francis
13 The Prisoner - The Clash
14 My, My, Tennessee (featuring Matt Friction of The Pink Spiders)
15 Two Questions - Klee
16 Loneliness Shines - Malcolm Middleton
17 Lidia's Song - Joe Lally
18 My Russia - Woven Hand
19 Just About To Go - Alvin Youngblood Hart

two fisted love

I remember the first time I listened to this song... I only threw it on because I thought the title sounded so dirty and funny. I wasn't familiar with Phoebe at all before this and fell in love with the song despite my sense of humor. Anyway, the whole album Second Childhood is quite good, but a lot of her other stuff seems to be more on the over produced/adult contemporary/blues vein. Doesn't go far with me... but here's a great song for you:

Phoebe Snow - Two Fisted Love


I'm really just buying time... been lazy/busy/dealing with some stuff.

a long and winding week.

Last week just kept on going. A lot of fun and not so fun stuff. Starting out with Down on Monday night, a dismal dentist appointment Tuesday, seeing Control on Wednesday, dentist #2 on Thursday, Eastern Promises that night and then a trip to the Silver Dollar for Maximum RNR & The Motorleague... So I was already tired by the time I went to see Ween on Friday night. It was me and about 3000 unfashionable and smelly people; Ween were awesome though, played a bit of everything from Push th' Little Daisies, Fat Lenny, Voodoo Lady, Piss Up A Rope and about half the new album; including the highlight for me: With My Own Bare Hands. It was super heavy and so loud, but you can tell just how fun it is for them to play (cause it's really dirty).
Saturday brought Halloween mayhem, I'll get some pics and more details on that soon. And I'll get back on the blog horse soon too.

Time For Rock

A friend of mine said he was surprised by some of the stuff I put up here... because it was wussy.
So, in response to that here's some ROCK

Tracklist:
01 Rocket from the Crypt - Pushed
02 Red Hot Lovers - Ain't Got Time To Waste
03 The Hangmen - Broke, Drunk & Stoned
04 Raging Slab - Bite The Lightning
05 c'Mon - Rock N Roll Can Break Yr Legs
06 Pride Tiger - What It Is
07 Red Fang - Prehistoric Dog
08 The Bronx - Historys Stranglers
09 Bionic - Sister Dynamite
10 The Sultans - Don't Hurry (To Come Back To Me)
11 Comets On Fire - Holy Teeth
12 The Heelwalkers - U.S. Marine
13 The Screws - Kill Someone You Hate
14 Supersuckers - Thinkin' Out Loud
15 Camarosmith - S.O.S.
16 Hell City Love - Dirty Love
17 Krokus - Easy Rocker

(And Rob, their might be some new stuff for you in there too)

A new mix.

Here's a mix with a lot of brand new stuff in it.

01 The Hylozoists - If Only Your Heart Was A Major Sixth
02 Wintersleep - Dead Letter (Get their new album NOW)
03 Shout Out Louds - Time Left For Love
04 Emma Pollock - Here Comes The Heartbreak
05 The Notwist - One With The Freaks
06 Scanners - High Flyer
07 Tindersticks w/Paula Frazer (of Tarnation) - Buried Bones (Live)
08 Bat For Lashes - Trophy
09 Joseph Arthur - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
10 Martina Topley-Bird - Shangri-La
11 Son Volt - Circadian Rhythm
12 Swell - Two Dimes In The Sun
13 Joe Henry - You Can't Fail Me Now
14 Shannon Wright - In The Morning
15 Ween - Lullaby
16 Soulsavers - Spiritual

And it's right HERE

catching up

Been a while...
I was out to Halifax for a week or so. Went to a wedding, ate some great food, had some drinks and spent time with my lovely lady.
Got back and went to see The Hives playing a show outside of their current gig opening for Maroon 5. They put on a great show, I've never been a huge fan of them but well worth it to see them in their element. There aren't too many bands on their level who put as much into the show as they do.
Friday took me out to Lee's Palace to see Magnolia Electic Co. who were good but their songs sort of blend into one another for me live. The last song of the set was awesome though. I was there more for The Watson Twins anyway. Aside from the fact that they played with Jenny Lewis and they're both gorgeous, they're also quite good. They have a quiet charm and some very beautiful songs; great sombre country/folk without feeling like they're going through the "female singer songwriter" motions.
Thanksgiving weekend equaled lots of food drink and movies.
Last night was back to Lee's for Nebula, Les Breastfeeders and Bonk. Lots of good rock n roll.

Here's a couple great tunes.
The Watson Twins - Friend Or Foe (I'm pretty much in love with these girls)
Bonk - Images

And here's the new Radiohead

rock n roll weekend / east coast mayhem

This past weekend was filled with good friends and good rock. Saw C'mon and Turbonegro and drank fairly late for both. Tomorrow I'm off to Halifax for a wedding, a reunion of sorts and probably a few fun nights out.

I'll leave you with some goodies.
Here's a track from the upcoming Ween (who I'll be seeing next month) album; La Cucaracha. Woman And Man

And here's 4 different takes on Teenage Fanclub's "Everything Flows"

Teenage Fanclub - Everything Flows (acoustic version from "Teenage Fanclub Have Lost It")
The Afghan Whigs - Everything Flows (live, a little more economic than the original)
J. Mascis - Everything Flows/Range Life/In A Rut (Peel sessions, noisy & sloppy goodness)
Velvet Crush - Everything Flows (a "B" grade cover at best)

Ex-Drummer

This is a movie I saw at the film festival.... It's a Belgian punk rock movie full of junkies, assholes and handicapped. It'll be hitting North American shores next spring on DVD and I recommend checking it out, fantastic. It's harsh but at times pretty deep emotionally, though without a happy ending in the least. And the sound track is amazing and it's right HERE to download.

Track listing:
1. 2 Morro Morro Land - Lightning Bolt 2.Papa Bear - Madensuyu 3.Need You Now - An Pierlé & White Velvet 4.Chagrin De La Mer - The Tritones 5.Hunted By A Freak - Mogwai 6.Mexico Dream Blues - The Experimental Tropic Blues Band 7.De Grotste Lul Van't Stad - Flip Kowlier 8.Mongoloid - Millionaire 9.Grinning Mouths - Isis 10.Een Boeket Met Pissebloemen - Arno 11.People In Pairs - Augusta National Golf Club 12.Time Hangs Heavy On Your Hands - Mel Dune 13.Blow - Ghinzu 14.Hell From The Underground - Funeral Dress 15.Deep Fish - Millionaire 16.Moving Ground - Blutch

TIFF

Been a busy week...
Saw the Burning Brides on Thursday night. They were awesome, but it went late so I got stuck with walking home and catching a bit of a cold.
Went to see Dai-Nipponjin on Friday and wrote a review that showed up HERE
Saturday was The Devil's Chair (pretty lacklustre) and À l'intérieur (intense and amazing, crazy French horror) meaning another late night.

I'll get some fun music up again soon enough.

Daniel Lanois

So, pretty much any self respecting music fan should at least know who Daniel Lanois is...

There's a new documentary out about him "Here Is What Is" that debuted at TIFF and also he played two very intimate shows at The Great Hall here in Toronto to celebrate the occasion. I was lucky enough to get a ticket for one of these shows and found a lovely spot right by the stage for it. The venue is an old church with a balcony all around, a small, fairly low stage and holds about 400 people.

The show started with Lanois stepping to the mic and talking about his new movie, the idea behind it and some of what it shows. He then introduced Garth Hudson, who made his way out to the floor and sat down at an old baby grand, everyone was told to be quiet as we listened to him start on a journey through his years of music. About 5 minutes of gorgeous playing before Lanois took to the guitar and Brian Blades came out to join him on the kit and the piano was moved off the floor. The majority of the show was just Lanois & Blades, sounding amazing.

Go see the movie and the show if it comes through your town...

Devil's Bed
JJ Leaves LA

Buy it here or here.

quiet violence

I've been lazy with the blog I know. Lots going on in my life which won't be discussed here... but here's a great ep from Arab Strap. I love their songs stripped down and I am so glad I got to see these guys before they split up. And between Malcolm Middleton and L. Pierre they're still putting out lots of great stuff.

Arab Strap - Quiet Violence buy some HERE

goodbyes

I think this sort of explains itself thematically...

Steve Earle - Goodbye
Sparklehorse - Sick Of Goodbyes
Asobi Seksu - Goodbye
Arnold - Goodbye Grey
Archive - Goodbye
Catherine Wheel - Goodbye

just keep the old.

I was just talking with a friend of mine about how we're not sure if there's just not as much great music coming out, or if we're just missing it. Either way , there haven't been too many new bands blowing us away. For me, most of what I listen to is either older or has connections to older stuff. Maybe it's just as I get older my dislike and disconnection with youth gets stronger.
Oh well, these guys are older than me and better than most.

Hot Snakes - Peel Sessions EP

Impact All Stars

This is probably one of my favorite dub albums of all time...

Impact All-Stars - Forward The Bass: Dub from Randy's

Migala

It's been a pretty busy weekend so no big posts. But here's a fucking great song from a lovely Spanish band called Migala.
I've never heard much press about them and got recommended them by a friend based on a mutual love for the Tindersticks. Their album Arde is very much in the same vein as the Tindersticks but when I picked up La Increible Aventura it reminded me much more of Mogwai style instrumentals. Very big, very melodic and just plain gorgeous.

Migala - Lecciones de Vuelo Con Mathias Rust

a tribute to Dirty Work.

Here's a couple of versions of one of the best songs ever.
Nash Kato - Dirty Work
Replicants - Dirty Work

For Lee

I figure I'll pay tribute to Lee Hazlewood by posting Total Lee: A Tribute to Lee Hazlewood.

And then go buy some of his original recordings from your local shop or from emusic

There's a couple of his albums with Nancy Sinatra on emusic too, that's the stuff that introduced me to his music, and is still some of the best work either of them have done.

Enjoy.

Lee Hazlewood RIP: 9 July 1929 - 4 August 2007

This is some pretty sad news, been expected for some time now though. At least we've got a whole lot of amazing songs to enjoy and remember him by. I'll be posting something more by Lee in the coming days but here's one song to bring that tear to your eye.
Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Sundown Sundown

From his Myspace page:

Kiss all the pretty ones goodbye
Give everyone a penny that cry
You can throw all my tranquil' pills away
Let my blood pressure go on its way
For my autumn's done come
My autumn's done come.
Lee Hazlewood, My Autumn's Done Come

We are sad to announce that LEE HAZLEWOOD has died peacefully at his home outside Las Vegas, USA, after a three year struggle with cancer. He celebrated his 78th birthday earlier this month surrounded by family and friends from around the world. He passed away on August 4th, 2007, in Henderson, Nevada, and is survived by his son Mark, his daughters Debbie and Samantha, and his devoted wife Jeane.

See the rest of this in the comments...

one of the best albums ever...

I love this album and will never feel guilty about it, no matter who says it sucks. In my record store days me and a co-worker played "Dirty Work" on repeat, seeing who would cave and turn it off first. We got to about 20 times, numerous customer complaints and bad jokes ("Is this crappy music day?" no, fuck you) before we decided, it would never get old, but we should take it off for now, it will always be there for us, like your most reliable friend. Maybe you'll drift apart for some time, but when you come back together, it's like nothing has changed.

So get acquianted or re-acquianted with one of the best friends you will ever have: Steely Dan - Can't Buy A Thrill

GVSB vs. GVB

This is a fun little ep from a couple of indie heavy hitters.

This split of live radio performances captures Girls Against Boys back when I first really got into them and Guided By Voices doing a few of my faves of theirs.

So here is Eight Rounds

The Fireman

I got this disc years ago when someone brought it into the second hand shop I was working at. The main reason it caught my attention was the picture of an incredibly sexy and busty girl hiding in the tray under the cd. Yes, that alone was enough to make me check out te disc. It's always been a great melodic/ambient kind of background thing to throw on. Dreamy without becoming easy listening, and ambient without becoming boring. A very lovely little thing, at times reminiscent of Ry Cooder, Nels Cline and Rachel's... which is to say good.

Now as I was getting ready to post it I decided to find out more about it, I just hadn't bothered really. Turns out it was a collab between Youth (Killing Joke) and Paul McCartney (yep, that guy). It's been out for 10 years, it's probably the best thing he's done in at least 20.

The Fireman - Rushes

mix from last week.

OK, here's a mix I was supposed to post last week. No time for details though.

ENJOY

01 The Album Leaf - Another Day
02 Lilium - Locked In Tight
03 Richard Buckner - Mile
04 American Music Club - Only Love Can Set You Free
05 Tobin Sprout - Since I...
06 Migala - Low of Defenses
07 Elvis Perkins - The Night And The Liquor
08 Nina Nastasia And Jim White - Late Night
09 Centro-matic - With Broken Hands
10 Bourbon Tabernacle Choir - Simple

Elvis Costello, Live at The El Mocambo 1978

Here's a great concert from a legendary Toronto venue.

This was the bonus disc in a long out of print Costello box set. ENJOY

drinks, free food & free drinks, free movie, more drinks.

so the title sums up my night last night quickly.

The movie in question was "Hatchet". It's an old style horror, no digital effects or anything, been getting great reviews. It had some decent humour, but I didn't think it was anything too new or original, and the horror side was lacking, nothing close to a scare. Maybe it's just cause I was pretty drunk at that point.

On the music side, I had put together a playlist but left the link on my work computer, so wait you will have to.

Until then, here's a great old Best Kisser's In The World song that was covered by the Supersuckers. Hungover Together

Also, I need to rent out a room... anyone who is or knows someone looking in Toronto should check it out. http://toronto.craigslist.org/sub/378392878.html

a new mix

Another mix, figure since I'm not posting too frequently it should at least be something half decent. So here's the blood, sweat and tears of making a playlist for your enjoyment.

Download here.

Tracklist:
1. Opsvik & Jennings - Commuter Anthem
2. Stuart A. Staples - Which Way The Wind
3. Spain - Before It All Went Wrong
4. The Big Sleep - S.K.B.
5. Buffalo Tom - Gravity
6. Wipers - The Lonely One
7. Chris Whitley & The Bastard Club - I'm In Love With A German Film Star
8. Afterhours - Ballad for My Little Hyena
9. Swell - So Would I
10. Murder City Devils - Press Gang (Remixed By The Latch Brothers)
11. Malcolm Middleton - Superhero Songwriters
12. Asobi Seksu - Walk On The Moon

not much time for the old blog this week.

but here's the new Social Distortion track Far Behind, it's from their disappointing greatest hits that just came out. It's a good track, but the disc doesn't dig very deep.

It was the long weekend... I've been busy.

Went to see Transformers, which is amazing eye candy without the badness most of the summer blockbusters provide. Also saw the Edith Piaf biopic La Vie En Rose which is amazing but certainly not a feel good movie. Marion Cotillard is unbelievable as Piaf, can't even begin to explain how good she is.

History

Sam The Record Man on Yonge St here in Toronto is closing down after 70 years. It's a Canadian institution to say the least. And with a store front like that it's been a part of the landscape on Yonge St for some time, there's a chance that the signage may remain intact though, so that's good news. I played hookie from work today so that I can go check out the auction they're having there (click on the pic to see some of the stuff they're auctioning of).

Should be an experience...

(the website has since changed the picture this links to, but I'll leave it for fun. Those are nice ovens.)

And this is for those hot summer nights to relax a bit. An amazing album and hard as hell to find on CD (just look on eBay)

Tim Buckley - Blue Afternoon

Here's the tracklist for the summer mix so you know what you're getting

1. Alvin Youngblood Hart - Tallacatcha
2. Woven Hand - Bible And Bird
3. John Phillips - April Anne
4. Ian Love - Old Enough
5. Bob Lind - Elusive Butterfly
6. Calexico - Love Will Tear Us Apart
7. Teenage Fanclub - Feel
8. Matthew Sweet - The Ocean In Between
9. Lloyd Delpratt - Together
10. Tindersticks - What Is a Man
11. Heartless Bastards - Brazen
12. Swell - So Easy, So Cool
13. Okkervil River - Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe
14. Dog Day - Career Suicide
15. Klee - Two Questions
16. Magnolia Summer - Once in a While
17. Afghan Whigs - Mr. Superlove
18. Lee Hazlewood/Nancy Sinatra - Summer Wine

And here's the LINK

Replacements Live

It kind of gets easy to tell who my favorite bands are, but i have no shame in that.

Here's a great live show from the glory days of the 'Mats. Enjoy.

The Replacements "Putting On The Ritz" The Ritz - New York, NYJuly 27, 1987

Tracks:
01. I.O.U. 02. Nevermind 03. Hold My Life 04. I Will Dare 05. Lovelines 06. Can't Hardly Wait 07. Little Mascara 08. Swingin' Party 09. Bastards of Young 10. Within Your Reach 11. The Ledge 12. Waitress in the Sky 13. Sweet Home Chicago 14. Favorite Thing 15. Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out 16. Unsatisfied 17. Go 18. Nightclub Jitters 19. California Sun 20. Another Girl, Another Planet 21. Kiss Me on the Bus 22. Skyway 23. If Only You Were Lonely 24. Color Me Impressed 25. Takin' a Ride

vibrators

On the flip side of the great band/no image thing is The Automatix, a band I saw last night opening for the Vibrators. It's the usual case of young punks with time and money to spend on the right clothes, the right tattoos, the right hair dye and foot and a half mohawks but the songs and playing are definitely sub par, especially when opening for the Vibrators. The Vibrators have been doing it for 30 years and they still sound great, and they've aged much more gracefully than a lot of the old punks still kicking around (although drummer Nick looks like he's a weekend warrior heading to the cottage, blasting Van Halan; or Jon Mayer if he's feeling hip). The main problem with them is their songs aren't fantastic, they don't have the power to transcend the ages and become classics. The Saints at least have I'm Stranded to cement them on punk comps for years to come. This was pretty evident with the turnout, a pretty sparsely attended event. Seems like the only old punk bands people will go out to see are the ones who have become t-shirt fodder for the up and coming little suburban punks of the world. That's one thing The Vibrators definitely have going for them...

summertime.

Here's a nice little mix for strolling around on a nice summer day. ENJOY

I'll post the tracklisting later, but it's worth downloading and throwing on your mp3 player. There's a Heartless Bastards song in there... I saw them live Wednesday night and they were so amazing. They're a very awkward band to look at as they are completely image free. The drummer looks like Ethan Suplee with a beard, the bassist barley moves and is expressionless leaving singer Erika Wennerstrom to get all the focus. She kind of looks like Randy Rhoads at times, and is about the same size, but she's got a hugely powerful voice. She's right up there with PJ Harvey for intensity with a bit of Chan Marshall thrown in. You should really go to your local record store or emusic and get All This Time.

across the board

Just filler really...

Here's a few very different things.

Tindersticks - No More Affairs EP (features a great cover of Townes Van Zandt's "Kathleen")
Motorhead - Live From Spirit of Rock Festival, Winterthur, Switzerland June 2, 2007
Calexico - Feast of Wire Part 1, Part 2 pw - gfbbfg

raised by wolves

Voxtrot finally released a full length after 4 years of singles and eps. Those singles and eps were for the most part perfect pop with lots of hooks and catchy melodies; the full length has fleshed out a lot of those things and in the process lost a lot of the charm for me. It has it's moments, but it's not all gold. Here's one of their eps, puts a smile on my face.

Voxtrot - Raised By Wolves

And I just noticed the download link for this one was messed up below so here's a fix.

Quicksand - Quicksand EP

RFTC LIVE

One of the best rock bands ever in my books.

There's a few live shows. HERE


My internet has sucked a bit lately. Return to form due soon though.

sad bastard music

I've always been in love with sad songs that make you feel depressed and good at the same time... things that are so gorgeous and heartbreaking. When I would get in a sad mood (usually led to by an unrequited crush or something) I would like nothing better than to lay in the dark and listen to stuff like this... so here's a whole hours worth of that great stuff. It's like falling in love with a broken heart. (I'm feeling oh so poetic I know)

01 Jim Bryson - Without Piano
02 Spain - Every Time I Try
03 Chris Whitley - Cool Wooden Crosses
04 Tindersticks - She's Gone
05 Nina Nastasia - Cry Baby
06 Yo La Tengo - Tears Are in Your Eyes
07 Jenny Lewis - Melt Your Heart
08 The Replacements - Sadly Beautiful
09 Mojave 3 - Love From Room 109 At The Islander
10 Afterhours - There's Many Ways
11 The Twilight Singers - Deepest Shade
12 Irma Thomas - Anyone Who Knows What Love Is
13 16 Horsepower - Nobody 'Cept You
14 Bill Janovitz - Red Balloon

ENJOY all in one file (a few are wma format but I'm sure you can figure it out)

blah

this week was a bit of a mess but it had some highlights too.
The National show was great. They played the Opera House which is about as gorgeous a club venue you can find and it's a great place for their music to be heard. Te only problem with the show was the group of chatty bastards standing next to me including the sexually ambiguous guy who kept saying "I want them to play something I can dance to". A bit obnoxious.
Had the pleasure of see C'mon today at 4 in the afternoon at an outdoor gig and later I'm off to see Bionic and Urge Overkill. I'm quite happy.

Here's a few good rock tunes.

Nasty On - Filthy Part Of Town
Spitfires - Something To Nothing
Red Hot Lovers - Black Chrome (turbonegro cover)

a week of shows

Going to see Buffalo Tom, Urge Overkill and a bunch of other bands this week for NXNE fest in Toronto. Tonight going to see the National and then sneak off to Jon Epworth & The Improvements at the Horseshoe.

Here's some live National, and get the new disc, it's a slow burner but it's great.

The National - Black Sessions

rare Replacements

This album was a bootleg put put many years ago collecting a bunch of b-sides and unreleased tracks. They've all got their charm for sure. Some of these showed up on the All for Nothing/Nothing for all comp that came out a few years back but they're all in one place. Enjoy.
Can't Hardly Wait actually has the first four songs in front of it, I didn't feel like editiing... but it's a great older version of the song. Nowhere is My Home maybe one of the best 'Mats songs out there too.
The Replacements - Beat Girl

1. Kissing In Action
2. Ought to Get Love
3. Satellite
4. Like a Rolling Pin
5. Can't Hardly Wait
6. Date to Church
7. If Only You Were Lonely
8. Nowhere Is My Home
9. Route 66
10. Election Day
11. Tossin and Turnin
12. Jungle Rock
13. Cool Water
14. Cruella DeVille
15. 20th Century Boy

for short attention spans.

I saw a great show last night... been wanting to see Fucking Champs for a while. Just 3 guys can pretty much play the same stuff on the album and make it sound perfect. It's insane... the opening bands were awesome too.

The Fucking Champs
Red Fang
Birds Of Avalon

And here's a few good eps
Grandpaboy - Soundproof/Monolyth (Paul Westerberg, put out before Stereo/Mono)
Steve Earle & The Supersuckers - Split EP (this is out of print.... aren't you lucky)
Quicksand - Quicksand EP (from 1990, I think the guys from Tool must've heard this at some point)

This is an amazing compilation of some rare and hard to find soul. If you like good old classic soul at all then download this. It's right up there with Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures Vol 1.

Various Artists - Blue Light Basement Party, Vol. 1

1. Jealous Kind of Fella - Garland Green
2. Don't It Make You Feel Kinda Bad - The Radiants
3. Our Day Will Come - Ruby & the Romantics
4. I'm Still Here - The Notations
5. Casanova (Your Playing Days Are Over) - Ruby Andrews
6. Under the Street - Exits
7. Stone Good Lover - Jo Armstead
8. Go On - United Four
9. Lovin You - Gifts
10. Oh Cindy - The Vibrations
11. What More Can I Ask For - Star-Tels
12. When Love Calls - Darrow Fletcher
13. Working on a Groovy Thing - Patti Drew
14. That's How Heartaches Are Made - Baby Washington
15. Third Cup, Pt. 1 - Eddie Fisher
16. You Better Go - Nancy Wilson
17. Think About Tomorrow - Ethics
18. Forget About Me - Carolyn Crawford
19. It's a Man Down There - G.L Crocket
20. You Say You Love Me - Dee Edward
21. Mighty Lover - The Ideals
22. The Touch of You - Brenda & the Tabulations
23. Temptations 'Bout to Get Me - Knight Bros
24. Now I Know I Love You - Mandells
25. Ain't No Big Thing - The Radiants
26. ????

lost time

To make up for a week of no posts here's a few albums from around the net to enjoy. I'll get back to my own stuff soon enough.

Tomahawk - Anonymous
Joe Strummer - The Future Is Unwritten Soundtrack to the documentary
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Pass: nodatta.blogspot.com)
Suzanne Vega - Beauty & Crime I'm a huge sucker for her. (NEW LINK)
Jeff Buckley - So Real: Songs from Jeff Buckley Kind of a lame "best of"/ money grab, but he was still pretty great.
Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris (Password - www.blu3f0x.co.uk)
Scorpions - Virgin Killer
Mum - Summer Make Good (Pass: nodatta.blogspot.com)

no time for blogging

My folks are in town so no posts for now...

Went to La Travieta last night, whoever thought a good way to update Italian Opera was by putting people in bad fetish gear has no clue.


And go see "Once" opening in many more cities tomorrow.

I'll return with a big post after the weekend.

Murder City Devils live show.

Murder City Devils were a great fucking band.
Here's the whole show of a reunion gig they did last year.

LIVE at the Showbox 7.30.06

bonne fin de semaine

Long weekend, no real plans except to go see 28 Weeks Later. Looks awesome.
In other movie news, I saw Spiderman 3. Worth seeing for Bruce Campbell's part and some of the action but it goes on too long and too boring for most of the time.
Also went to see Shrek The Third, it was free and I didn't feel my time was robbed too much. It's enjoyable enough to keep you entertained if you check everything behind. The Gingerbread man's life flashing before his eyes is truthfully hilarious. The new Eels song "Royal Pain" is pretty good as the main song, better than Smash Mouth or Counting Crows in the past. On the flipside of that song is Fergie covering "Barracuda". She has very little talent and manhands (as seen in Planet Terror). Her and Gwen Stefani have joined Paris Hilton in the useless people category.

A much better movie; "Once" is opening in select cities today (more next Friday). It's an Irish film about a busker in Dublin (played by Glen Hansard of the Frames) and a Czech immigrant (Marketa Irglova). I saw it a few weeks ago and it is fantastic, it's funny and romantic without being like Music and Lyrics, everything about it is believable and has this great quite charm to it. This video is from the screening I went to.... having girl's from the audience get up to sing can be disaster but that night was a really special thing. Also, when's the last time you were at a performance where people weren't chatting at all?



Here's a song from the movie that's on an album Glen and Marketa just put out.
Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - When Your Minds Made Up

And here's some more music to start the weekend.
Primal Scream - Kill All Hippies
Centro-Matic - Covered Up In Mines
Mew - Why Are You Looking Grave (Feat- J Mascis)
Camarosmith - It's Alright
Sparklehorse - Happy Man (Memphis Version)
Steve Earle - Reconsider Me

Twilight Singers Live

Scott Ford from The Twilight Singers has an online radio show and a blog (www.fordradio.blogspot.com). And right now he has an awesome live show from Brussels dated January 15th, 2004.
Get it HERE. (edit: IT'S BEEN TAKEN DOWN, but go to Ford Radio for some other goodies.)

Enjoy.

not everyday

I won't be updated this everyday, depends how much time I have etc.
But here's a few mp3s to throw on your player, they're worth it.

Afterhours - Ballad for My Little Hyena
Curt Kirkwood - Beautiful Weapon
Arnold - Fleas Don't Fly
Fleetwood Mac - What Makes You Think You're The One

And everyone should also know that you can buy whole roasted chickens from Wal-Mart for only $6.47 (CDN). It seems so wrong but just so right too.

rock n roll dance party

I went to the Cloak & Dagger on College St (in Toronto) last night. Great little bar with lots of tasty beer and a good vibe. My friends future roomie was dj'ing and had the pretty girls dancing allowing me to simply drink and look at pretty girls... no harm in that. So here's some tunes in the spirit of that, with my own twist in a way. Enjoy.

Young/Holt Unlimited - Soulful Strut
Murder City Devils - Dancing Shoes
Jay B. Lloyd - I'm So Lonely
Johnny Angel - Baby It's Love
Doug Sahm - Slow Down
Irma Thomas - Break-A-Way
Rocket From The Crypt - Tarzan
Ike Turner - (I Know) You Don't Love Me
King Curtis & The Shirelles - Ooh Poo Pah Doo
The Afghan Whigs - Chalk Outline
Martha Reeves And The Vandelles - EasilyPersuaded
Carl McVoy - Little John's Gone
The Backbeat Band - Bad Boy


And since it's mother's day.... The Frames - God Bless Mom

Sunless Saturday

I didn't go outside once while is was nice out... going out for beer soon.

Going to post an album by one of my favorite bands ever Swell - 41




I discovered the band when I saw the video for "Forget About Jesus" on Citylimits (late night indie music videos), picked up the album and fell in love. It has a dark intensity that kind of draws you in, kind of like the second Tindersticks album. There are great songs on it but it's best heard as a whole. This band should have been much bigger... not quite Nirvana size, but certainly as popular as Pavement or Guided By Voices.

Get more Swell from emusic

And here's a tune that's stuck in my head
Malcolm Middleton - Death Love Depression Love Death (get it here)

Friday night

What happened to spring? It feels like it just turned summer already... and I don't deal incredibly well with the heat.

I'm going to see Fields & Blonde Redhead tonight, really looking forward to this. You can listen to why and enjoy a few covers as well...
Blonde Redhead - 23
Fields - Song For The Fields

Slo' Tom - Gotta Get Drunk (cause that's what I'm gonna do tonight)

The Frames - One Irish Rover (Van Morrison)

Swell - Street Fighting Man (Rolling Stones)

Eric Matthews - Needle In The Hay (Elliot Smith)

So we begin

A few mp3s to get things rolling.

The Twilight Singers - I'm Ready
Greg Dulli always manages to front my favorite bands. And I'm sure will be represented here well.
Dog Day - Oh Dead Life
Great band from my hometown. New album "Night Group" is available now HERE.
Asobi Seksu - Then He Kissed Me
Blonde Redhead - Spring and by Summer Fall
Going to see them tomorrow night... very excited.
The Vikings - Tonight
Murder City Devils - Boom Swagger Boom
Tindersticks - City Sickness
Danzig - You & Me (Less Than Zero)
The crooner in full force.

and away we go....

this is just me getting proactive and finally doing this...

content will be here soon enough. I promise.